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If you have fought off those constantly knocking at your IT department door insisting that Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is the only way forward for the Desktop Infrastructure then you must be a pretty stubborn character. In a culture where Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), home working and mobile/remote working are more readily accepted (and expected) the arguments for a VDI solution reducing the overhead to the business and making the workforce more productive far outweigh the objections.

For those of you who have crossed the VDI bridge and have implemented a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, you will know that the last word in the phrase (Infrastructure) is perhaps the most important of the three. I would liken it to the small print on a user agreement, as you only truly appreciate the importance of it after you've ticked the box and made the commitment.

The "infrastructure" tag typically relates to the underlying hardware platform, with the required processing power and performance (IO). The importance of this is easily washed out by those that focus on the VDI software layer and all of the wonderful bells & whistles it has to offer to your business, but it should not be understated. Given that I am writing this for Storage Magazine, it is important that I highlight the key player in this equation - the underlying storage infrastructure.

The storage industry has realised that it was getting a fairly bad press for being the reason that VDI environments weren't performing - the irony being that typically little or no investment or focus had been applied to the storage when the VDI solution was initially scoped. Subsequently, the bandwagon is now well and truly rolling and the vast majority of vendors have a specific section of their website or set of datasheets dedicated to VDI.

Perhaps the reason that so many storage vendors are aligning themselves with VDI relates to the performance demands (as opposed to capacity demands) that a VDI estate requires, and in order to deliver such performance, the premium priced items in the portfolio (fast disk and/or SSD) provide the solution. The assumption is one where money is no object but traditionally the cheque has been cashed and the chequebook already been closed by the time storage comes into the equation and the "Budget, what budget?" line typically arises.

With that in mind, the evolution of the storage solution for VDI has moved towards a more hybrid orientated model, combining the performance needs with the capacity requirements. Features such as caching and tiering, masking or aligning the performance, have managed to deliver the required balance. Appliances supporting SSD and HDD technology have gained traction in this arena and the importance of application support of the big names in the VDI market has increased. However, as with any storage solution (irrespective of whether it is for VDI), the "one size fits all" approach is inappropriate and misguided. Environments differ; capacity, performance, scalability, flexibility and budget all have to be taken into account.

What is important is appreciating and understanding the importance of the role that Storage plays in the VDI solution stack. No matter how stubborn you are, this is a challenge that cannot be ignored and maybe the very reason that you have read this article up to this point. If you are about to venture into VDI in 2015 please don't forget this - hopefully it will have drawn your attention to the VDI small print which otherwise would have gone under the radar.
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